Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources.
Likewise, fixed line telecommunications networks typically also provide multiple access to different users of, e.g. an integrated access device or a customer premises equipment.
In some applications, the use of wide area radio access technologies may be impractical or not desired, e.g., due to limitations on power budgets and/or constraints on battery life. Many devices installed in residences, businesses and vehicles are now provisioned or retrofitted with control and monitoring devices that can communicate wirelessly using a low-energy radio access technology to enable connection to other devices.
For example, sensors, light bulbs, audio visual equipment, security system devices, appliances and other devices may be equipped for low-energy, short-range radio communications that operate with dissipation using near-field communications (NFC) and/or Bluetooth technologies, and/or other technologies using, e.g., one of the frequency bands designated for industrial, scientific and medical uses (so-called ISM-bands).
In some situations, there is the need that a communication device having a somewhat local communication range connects to a wide area telecommunications network. Examples of such situations might comprise remote sensors that may require that the sensor be configured to upload sensor data to a server (e.g. a cloud server) from which sensor data can be retrieved through the Internet.
In present day mobile communication networks, it is already known to connect locally communicating communication devices with the (wide area) mobile communication network, or, more generally, a telecommunications network using another communication device, such as a mobile phone. In such situations, the other communication device—such as a mobile phone—typically comprises a first interface for communicating with the telecommunications network—often a radio interface towards a wide area mobile communication network—and additionally a second interface for communicating with the locally communicating communication device. Typically in such situations, it is the other communication device (i.e. the one communicating with the wide area telecommunications network) that is terminating the communication link with the wide area telecommunications network, i.e. it provides a network terminating functionality. Typically, there is no lower level interaction between the (wide area) telecommunications network on the one hand and the locally communicating communication device—only application level communication, e.g., between a health care tracker device worn by a user, the health care tracker device being locally connected to a mobile phone (as the communication device communicating with the wide area telecommunications network), and exchanging data with an application server of a packet data network using the connectivity provided by the mobile phone and the (wide area) telecommunications network towards the application server.